


No Brakes

by HeartOfAspen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Brakes Are Important, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Harry Learns To Drive, Mostly Because Hermione Makes Him, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22010485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartOfAspen/pseuds/HeartOfAspen
Summary: Hermione insists that as an adult, Harry really should learn how to drive and earn his Muggle driver's license. But it's so hard to concentrate with her in the passenger seat...
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 24
Kudos: 144





	No Brakes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlexandraO](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexandraO/gifts).



“Brake, Harry, brake!”

The brief squealing of the car’s tires brought them to an abrupt halt. Hermione’s neck snapped forward and her foot slammed on a nonexistent brake pedal. Brushing her bushy curls from her face and out of her mouth, one hand went to her chest where her heart was probably beating rapidly. She glared over to the driver-side seat.

Sheepishly, Harry offered her an apologetic half-smile. “Sorry. Got the pedals mixed up again.”

The traffic light in front of them changed to green. So did Hermione’s complexion a little, Harry noticed, feeling his face heat up as he heard her take a deep breath. Her voice however, was no-nonsense as ever. “Alright now, gently give it a little bit of gas…”

Harry pressed his big toe gently onto what he believed to be the appropriate pedal, but the car did not move. Behind them, another driver honked impatiently.

“Harry…?”

“Right,” he acknowledged. Gripping the wheel a little more tightly, he put the smallest bit more pressure on the gas pedal. The car inched forward.

“You’ll have to give it a _little_ more than that, Harry.”

Taking a deep breath, he pressed harder on the pedal and the car lurched forward with a surge of power. “Sorry, sorry…” he muttered with frustration, smoothing out the ride as best he could.

The driver from behind them passed them at the first opportunity, mean-mugging them as he went, his face red behind a large mustache. Harry was inadvertently reminded of Uncle Vernon.

“Ooh, how I’d like to hex that man,” Hermione clucked, ever-loyal. “So impatient!”

“I’ll never get the hang of this,” Harry mumbled, adjusting his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose.

“Nonsense, Harry. Just because you’re an expert on a broom doesn’t mean everything will be the same. Besides, you’re an adult and you spend enough time in the Muggle world that you really should have your driver's license.”

It was not strictly speaking true that he spent much time in the Muggle world, though it was still more now than when he had been dating Ginny years ago. But Harry had heard this lecture from Hermione several times already, so he wisely remained silent instead of responding. Nevertheless, he could not help the niggling thought that if he had already made it through twenty-four years of life without his Muggle driver’s license, he could probably do very well for the remainder as well. There was Floo powder, Apparition, and Muggle public transport. He really didn’t have any issues getting around.

Hermione, however, had different plans. About three years ago - possibly in a fit of productivity after her split from Ron - she had got her own driver's license. Ever since, she had been nagging at Harry to do the same.

At first, she could not seem to comprehend why he wasn’t listening to her. At some point, however, she appeared to have decided that perhaps he simply had no one to teach him, and took him under her wing.

“Brake, Harry!”

He had almost missed the stop sign. In his defense, it was very difficult to concentrate on things like the road and pertinent signage, when Hermione was in the passenger seat… and not just because her foot kept slamming on an imaginary brake pedal.

Something in their relationship had shifted recently. Always, she had been like a sister to him, a best friend that happened to be a girl. When faced with sharing a small space like the tent they had camped in during that year on the run, he had inevitably been confronted with the fact that she was a woman, though it had changed nothing for him. In all fairness, Harry had had a lot of other things on his mind that year.

In the years following, he had taken on a kind of brotherly role and thought nothing of it. Why should things change?

Well, six months ago or so, they did.

Harry remembered that day well. He had met Hermione at their favorite tea shop, off the beaten path of Diagon Alley, on a Saturday morning as usual. This had become a ritual of theirs, a way to see one another at least once a week if no other opportunity arose with their busy lifestyles. She had ordered a poppyseed muffin and her usual cuppa. Dipping her teaspoon into the honey jar before generously adding excessive sweetener to her tea just as she liked it, she swirled the spoon around the teacup a few times, all while chattering away about a work project she was involved in.

When she came to a pause in her soliloquy, she happily popped the teaspoon into her mouth before pulling it slowly out. Her pink tongue darted out to lick off the last bit of honey before she set the teaspoon down, and her tongue ran the length of her bottom and then her top lip. It was so small an action, yet it had certainly grabbed Harry’s attention - as well as the attention of a certain part of his anatomy. Unaware that she had just shaken him to his very core, Hermione happily went on drinking her tea and chatting about her latest crusade. 

In a sense, it was as if that teaspoon had flipped a switch in his brain. Had she always been so feminine? The way her curls cascaded down her shoulders... her long eyelashes and the way they fluttered shut whenever she took a sip of her tea, savoring it.

“You’ll have to make a left, Harry,” Hermione was saying, snapping him back to the present, “followed by an immediate right, which will take you back to the car park.“

“Left then a right,” he repeated, to indicate he had been listening. Nervously, he adjusted his rear-view mirror, though it hardly needed it. “Got it.”

They made it back to the car park without further incident. The moment Harry came to a stop in the parking spot, Hermione turned to look at him. In the past year or so, her eyes had started crinkling at the corners whenever she smiled. It was the first sign of any aging, and yet Harry thought it was only more endearing on her. “You did it!”

Harry was nonplussed; he would like to have impressed her with his good driving, but so far, that had not happened. “I’m not sure why flying comes so naturally, but driving doesn’t.”

“You’re definitely getting better,” she encouraged. “With a little bit more practice, you’ll be ready to take your test.”

Harry closed his eyes. This was torture - not the driving part, but the fact that she was so close, so near, _and_ completely available. He could not concentrate. It was not a very large car; every corner they turned made it so that their shoulders lightly brushed. Half of his mistakes had her hand hovering over his on the shifter. Had he really defeated a Dark Lord just to be tortured by his own unwillingness to tell one of his oldest friends that he had feelings for her?

No, he decided, he hadn’t.

“I don’t think I can practice like this with you anymore, Hermione.”

Her smile slid from her face like honey dissolving in hot tea. “But why not? You’re doing so well! You can’t give up now, you’re nearly there.”

“No,” he stopped her before she could get carried away. “Not that part.”

She looked politely confused as she waited for an explanation. Harry had never been good with words, but he figured it had to be easier to just get the concept out there rather than letting it pull him apart on the inside.

Unbuckling his seatbelt, he half-turned in the driver's seat to attempt facing her. This was somewhat difficult in the cramped quarters of the car, the center console limiting his range of motion. He settled for taking her hands, and looking her in the eye. Understanding that he was about to say something important, she turned her full attention on him, brown eyes searching.

There was a moment where neither of them spoke. His heart did a little flip of nervousness, and he looked down at where their hands were joined. Absentmindedly, he began to trace little circles on the back of her hand with his thumb while he struggled for the right words.

Realization appeared to come to Hermione all at once. She elicited a sudden, small, “Oh!”

“You’re… too distracting,” he explained quietly, still looking down at their hands.

“ _Harry_ ,” she sighed, amusement lacing her tone in such a way that caused him to look up in curiosity. “I thought you’d _never_ come around.”

He blinked - and she was leaning in toward him. Softly, far more softly than he thought possible, her lips touched his. It was tentative, slow, allowing them to adjust to this new shift in their friendship.

Just as he had become accustomed to the idea that he was actually kissing the object of his past several months’ fascination, she wrenched her lips away to scream, “Brakes!”

A second later, Harry realized he had never put the car in park. Slamming his foot onto the brake pedal, the car pitched forward in protest of his abuse. Then, before he could commit any other faux pas, he put the car in park.

Hermione was breathing somewhat heavier than normal, but her eyes met his… and she began to giggle; he could not repress a chuckle. Soon enough, they were both laughing until Harry could feel genuine tears picking the corners of his eyes. Hermione was in no better a state, overwhelmed by their mutual mirth.

He loved the way she looked when she laughed. This time, it was him that leaned forward to kiss her, because knowing that he _could_ only made him impatient to do more of it. Soon, their laughter had subsided only due to their need to get more of one another. Harry couldn’t get enough… and when Hermione finally pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers, eyes shut as he savored the moment. 

He had completely forgotten that they were most of the way out of a parking space until another car honked at them, and Harry was obliged to reverse back into his space. Once the offending car had sped by, the driver shaking her head at them in annoyance, Harry turned to Hermione and cocked an eyebrow at her. “Fancy a walk?”

She grinned back, already reaching for her door handle. “I guess that means you’re done with your driving lesson for the day?”

Climbing out of the car, he peered at her over the top of it and slammed the driver-side door shut. “Just not ready to put the brakes on anything else today, I guess.”

Beaming at him, she walked around the car to him and they started off down the sidewalk, hand in hand.

**Author's Note:**

> This mini Harmony is a belated Christmas present for my friend, AlexandraO. It's a silly, little plunny but I hope you like it.
> 
> Alpha credit to Witches_Britches and beta credit to I_was_BOTWP. Thank you so much, ladies! I bestow thee both with barrels full of gratitude (and glitter, as is customary).
> 
> As always, comments are treasure <3 Thank you for reading.


End file.
